Table of Contents:

1. While they celebrated "massive" immigration protests with "huge"
crowds, the broadcast networks largely avoided scientific polling
data that showed that the protesters were in an overwhelming
minority.

1. While they celebrated "massive" immigration protests with "huge"
crowds, the broadcast networks largely avoided scientific polling
data that showed that the protesters were in an overwhelming
minority.

Anchors and reporters emphasized and underlined the awakening of a
"sleeping giant" of protest with 192 numerical descriptions of the
size of protests across the nation or in individual cities. There were
140 superlative adjectives on attendance ("huge," "massive,"
"extraordinary"). Eighteen of those superlatives suggested the rallies
were historic.

For instance, on the March 26 CBS Evening News, anchor Mika
Brzezinski touted "mass demonstrations that matched the biggest of the
civil rights movement or Vietnam War." On April 10, ABC World News Tonight anchor
Elizabeth Vargas opened simply: "We begin with an unprecedented show
of support for America’s illegal immigrants." CBS anchor Bob Schieffer
argued: "Not since the protests of the Vietnam era has there been
anything quite like it." On the May 1 Nightline, ABC host Terry
Moran promised: "We have live reports from the epicenter of the
protests. From the small towns, where the protesters made history." NBC
repeatedly touted what they estimated were the largest rallies in
history in individual towns, from Los Angeles to Dallas to Denver.

The networks didn’t even wait for the marches to take place before
predicting the creation of history. ABC’s Kate Snow previewed the May 1
walkout with this opening on Good Morning America: "This is the
number one radio show here in the morning here in NewYork City. It’s
called ‘El Vacilon de Manana,’ and it is one of the forces behind what
could be the largest immigrant walkout ever." On numerous occasions,
anchors and reporters told viewers that enormous crowds were "expected"
as the protests approached.

These claims to history or demands from the streets have not been
channeled for the massive annual "March for Life" against abortion,
which is routinely ignored by the networks. On the evening newscasts of
January 23, 2006, aired hours after the pro-life protest concluded,
CBS said nothing. NBC aired a three-sentence anchor brief. Only ABC had
a story on abortion, which briefly used the protests as a news hook
for a broader story on pro-life strategies to overturn Roe vs. Wade. There were no rave reviews of "huge" marches across America.

Certainly, the pro-illegal immigration rallies were large and
provided visuals of waves of protesting humanity. But the networks
aggressively pressed the case that these protests presented a demand
that should be heeded in Washington. On May 2, CBS Early Show co-host
Hannah Storm protested to the Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist:
"Monday, over one million immigrants skipped work and skipped school
and marched in streets across America. What is it going to take,
Senator, for Congress to come together and institute some meaningful
immigration reform?"

For one example of the flood of positive adjectives that accompanied
the illegal-alien protests, consider Terry Moran’s salesmanship from
Los Angeles on ABC’s Nightline May 1:

Today, this city saw a demonstration of epic proportions. A peaceful army of protesters, marching through the city streets. They’re just cleaning up after them behind me right now. It was a massive
show of strength from Southern California’s immigrant community,
angered by a proposed legislation in Congress that would make every
illegal immigrant a felon. More on LA in a moment. But this was a
national day of protest by immigrants and their supporters. About 400,000 people protested in Chicago, where marchers gathered in downtown park for one of the biggest events in the day. In Philadelphia today, huge crowds converged on the Liberty Bell. In Milwaukee, a massive march on the shores of Lake Michigan. And these are merely a few examples of the giant flex of immigrant muscle today....Hundreds of thousands of workers, their families and supporters, took over the city streets today in a massive demonstration of sheer numerical power. It was breathtaking. And across LA today, the impact of what was billed as the great American boycott was dramatic.

Allergic To Polls. In contrast to hundreds of words
emphasizing the "wave" of "pro-immigrant" activism, the networks aired
only 16 mentions of nationwide polls on immigration that might include
the opinion of non-protesters: six on ABC, five on NBC, and five on
CBS. That included scant acknowledgment of the networks’ own polls on
immigration. The networks were not so reluctant to make routine
mentions of the President’s "sagging"approval ratings, but on
immigration, the polls were few.

Oddly, while Nightline was effusive about the protests, they
were the most likely ABC program to offer viewers actual ABC News poll
results. On April 10, host Terry Moran noted: "In an ABC News/Washington Post poll
released today, 75 percent of Americans say the government is not
doing enough to keep illegal aliens out of the country, but 63 percent
favor a guest worker program that would allow illegal immigrants now
working in the U.S. to apply for legal status and eventual
citizenship."

On May 15, Moran reported: "The government’s inability to stem the
tide of illegal immigration has enraged Mr. Bush’s conservative
supporters. And it clearly troubles the general public. An ABC News
poll tonight finds that 77 percent of the public feel the government is
not doing enough to keep illegal immigrants from coming into the
country. And 58 percent feel strongly about it."

On air, CBS twice mentioned its polls emphasizing support for a
"guest worker" program after a long list of conditions. As part of the
big April 10 protest coverage, CBS reporter Jim Axelrod announced:
"According to a new CBS News poll, 74 percent of Americans favor
allowing illegal immigrants to stay and work if they have been here at
least five years, pay a fine and back taxes, speak English and don’t
have a criminal record. But even if you wipe away all those conditions,
more Americans still favor allowing illegals to apply for work permits
than oppose the idea." (That number was 49 percent to 43 percent, with a
three percent margin of error.) The next morning, the poll result was
shortened. Co-host Julie Chen declared: "A new CBS News poll shows 74
percent of Americans favor legal status for immigrants who have been
here for more than five years."

What Polls Were Missing? CBS did not cite its own poll
findings that 87 percent (April 6-9) or 89 percent (May 4-8) of
Americans said that the problem of illegal immigration was "very
serious" or "somewhat serious." But CBS used the polls against
President Bush. On March 30, Jim Axelrod noted Bush was facing "strong
Republican opposition" and "attacks from his own party, who paint him as
out of touch with Americans on immigration reform, since polls show
most Americans think immigrants here illegally should be forced to go
home."

NBC’s polling mentions in March were designed to highlight GOP
fissures on immigration, a favorite NBC theme. On March 25, George
Lewis singled out Republican numbers: "But according to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll,
59 percent of Republicans disagree with a temporary worker program for
illegal immigrants." But in fact, the poll results found 59 percent of
all Americans disagreed with the temporary-worker program, not just
Republicans. Two days later, David Gregory also singled out the GOP:
"The public, polls show, considers illegal immigrants a major problem.
But figuring out how to solve it has divided Congress and split the
President’s base — the business community against grass-roots
conservatives."

NBC never passed along that NBC’s pollsters asked their sample if
they would be more likely or less likely to vote for a candidate "who
favors tighter controls on illegal immigration," and 71 percent said
more likely, and only 11 percent said less likely. But the tiny
percentage who agreed with the liberal stance was not presented as a
political problem for Democrats or left-wing protest organizers. In
May, NBC twice acknowledged its own poll showed that people felt the
one-day May 1 boycott against working and shopping would hurt rather
than help the cause of illegal immigrants, by a margin of 57 to 17
percent. The other two networks didn’t notice.

Poll Showed Protests Didn’t Help. On the April 1 NBC Nightly News, reporter Kevin Corke touted a new Time poll showing 79 percent of Americans in favor of a guest worker program, but Time
assured survey respondents that guest workers would be here "for a
fixed period of time, so the government could keep track of them." The
question as worded hardly suggested legalizing illegal aliens. Corke
also noted 75 percent said illegals shouldn’t be eligible for
government subsidies like food stamps.

None of the networks noticed this question in the Time poll:
when asked if demonstrations by "immigrants and immigration rights
advocates" would make them more likely to favor a guest worker program
or more likely to favor laws that "make it a crime" to enter or work
illegally, only 12 percent said demonstrations made them more likely to
endorse the guest-worker program, compared to 35 percent who said it
made them more likely to favor laws to "make it a crime" to enter or
work here, and 49 percent who said protests "don’t have that much
effect" on their opinion.

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